Some entities, such as large corporations, government agencies, or universities, may maintain backbone networks to interconnect entity assets. For example, a corporate backbone network may be used to connect different data centers maintained by a corporation. Backbone networks may additionally include one or more points of presence for connecting the backbone network to the Internet. Backbone networks are themselves made up of connectivity devices, such as hubs, switches, and routers, as well as cables to connect the connectivity devices. These components of the backbone network provide the network capacity by which the data communications demand between assets (e.g., between data centers or computing devices) may be satisfied.
In order to increase backbone network capacity, an entity's network planners may engage in both short-term operational planning and long-term strategic planning. In the short-term, network planners may, for example, acquire additional capacity from an existing cable in the backbone network that has unused capacity, such as by paying for increased cable capacity. In the long-term, network planners may utilize new cables in the backbone network, thereby adding new routes between data centers in the network or augmenting existing routes between data centers.
Traditionally, the long-term planning done by network planners has been driven by the availability of new supply. That is, as new cables have been laid, network planners have had to decide whether to negotiate for use of the new cables, either through leasing access to the cables or joining a consortium of entities that manage the cables. These decisions have typically been made by network planners based on the current network demands of their backbone networks. In other words, the decisions behind long-term strategic planning have been made by network planners based primarily on the state of the backbone network at that particular time. Such limited input into long-term decision making is inherently inefficient, and risks the ability of the backbone network to meet future network demands. It would therefore be beneficial to facilitate the long-term strategic planning of a backbone network.
The techniques introduced here may be better understood by referring to the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate identical or functionally similar elements.